BENGALURU: The Karnataka Forest Department on Thursday recovered 300 acres of encroached land in Bukkapatna Chinkara Wildlife Sanctuary in Tumakuru district. The land recovered is in Survey No. 46 in Muthugadahalli Ambarpur and was declared as forest land in 1926 under the Forest Rights Act.
According to forest department records, this is the largest recovery of forest land in recent times.
On June 23, the forest department recovered 120 acres of forest land in Kadugodi plantation worth Rs 4,000 crore. However, the highest ever forest land recovery was in 2013—600 acres in Kolar, followed by 355 acres in Mallur in 2014.
Conservator of Forests V Yedukondalu told The New Indian Express that the land was illegally granted to villagers by revenue department officials over the last 30 years. Though people were not residing there, agricultural activities had been taken up for years. Farmers were growing coconut, cotton, arecanut, cowpea, and other crops. “Following the recently issued Lokayukta directives and Supreme Court and Karnataka High Court orders, we asked the revenue department officials of the division to cancel the illegal records, and 64(A) proceedings were initiated (under Section 64(A) of the Karnataka Forest Act of 1963, and the eviction notice is issued to people illegally occupying land before recovering the land). Documents that we obtained showed that most of the land was illegally occupied, and on Thursday, the entire land parcel was recovered,” he said.
Forest department officials said that the exercise of digging pits to lay trenches and undertake plantations suitable for blackbucks has started.
“The sanctuary (also known as the Black Buck Sanctuary, founded in 2019) is spread across 36,000 acres and includes three reserve forests. There are many more land parcels around the forest division that are also being recovered. The exercise has started,” Yedukondalu said.